Beacon team merits prestigious Odyssey of the Mind award
Odyssey of the Mind teams from Cape Henlopen School District competed March 24 at the state competition held at William Henry Middle School in Dover. The district was represented by teams from Shields Elementary, Milton Elementary, H.O Brittingham Elementary, Love Creek Elementary, Beacon Middle, Mariner Middle and Cape Henlopen High School.
Throughout the daylong competition, teams of students were tasked with selecting a problem, creating a solution and presenting their solution in a competition with other teams who had selected the same problem. The idea is to teach students creative problem-solving methods around the topic areas of science, technology, engineering, art and math. Students in the varying divisions competed in five different problem categories.
A team from Beacon placed first in the Animal House problem, and also took home a prestigious and rare Odyssey of the Mind award. "I'm so proud of the Beacon sixth-grade Odyssey Team," said parent Eileen Baker. "The students earned the Ranatra Fusca Award, which is only given out when the judges feel as though there has been outstanding creativity and teamwork shown by a team. It is the very highest award that you can get in an Odyssey of the Mind competition, so our coaches and students feel very honored and proud to have been the recipient."
The Ranatra Fusca Award is given out every couple of years when the judges feel a team has been exceptionally innovative. It also comes with an automatic bid to the world championship competition Wednesday to Saturday, May 23 to 26, at Iowa State University. This will be the Beacon team members' fourth year going together to worlds. The team has been together since third grade.
In problem 1, Triathlon Travels, Shields Elementary placed second, and Mariner's team also earned a second-place finish in the middle school divisions. Both teams have earned invitations to the world competition.
Overall, Shields Elementary teams achieved a fourth-place, a third-place, a second-place and a first-place finish. Three Shields teams will be competing in the world competition in three different problem topics.
Mariner Middle School took home a sixth-place finish, while Cape Henlopen High School and Milton Elementary School teams each earned fifth-place finishes in their divisions and problem topics.
